Reading is taking a hit. At least the old page-flipping, ink-on-paper kind of reading.
Please know that if I could write with ink and quill right now, I would. (Maybe that is the app I developed in my parallel universe life, where I have sweet technological and app-making skills.) But seriously. There is some empirical evidence to suggest that while any reading is good, old-fashioned page flipping is better.
Score one for this crusty old Shakespeare lover! Consider this piece by Scientific American:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-screens/
To be fair, I'll add a concession. Any reading is good, even Minecraft manuals (or so I tell myself as a parent). Here are some of my favorites, for unusual and engaging reading for junior high and high school students, and if there's time, parents too. I've added a few notes about these books, and why I think they're worth your time and consideration. As with any new material, please review for appropriateness for the specific reader. These books won't hurt with vocabulary building, reading skill and by default, test prep either!
1. Slaughterouse V by Kurt Vonnegut (Uncommonly written, cleverly styled, sardonic war novel about the fire bombing of Dresden)
2. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller (Witty, ironic and iconic story set during WWII)
3. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Published in 1911, an absolutely beautiful novel that, though very much embedded in its original time and place, is engaging, sweet and focused on children)
4. The Giver by Lois Lowry (One of the earlier dystopian novels, The Giver is a fascinating, simple study of a society that wants to heavily influence how people live and understand their world)
5. The Maze Runner series by James Dashner (I was totally surprised and wowed by this series; like The Hunger Games books do, the Maze Runner novels assess a society where invisible forces control people's lives, ostensibly with "good" intentions)
6. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (Not quite a dystopian novel, this deeply philosophical Sci-Fi book of genius still touches upon the way that societies sometimes use their children in destructive ways, even with those same "good" intentions)
7. Candide by Voltaire (Not just a literary classic, this unusual book is full of dark humor and is at points laugh-out-loud funny; it will be very unfamiliar in style and content to most younger readers, but it is packed with cleverness and insight, with a distinctly European flair)
8. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (A book about books, this short and intense work brilliantly captures what it means to lose - or keep - intellectual meaning and reality. I might call it a "light" alternative to 1984)
9. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (If you haven't read it in some years, or if the high school isn't teaching it, it is simply a must read - best for juniors or seniors, due to language/content)
10. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Many high schools do not teach Twain anymore, which strikes me as a great loss; this text earnestly and powerfully takes on slavery, racial stereotyping and the beauty of one socially-undamaged child's understanding of friendship and human connection)
Happy page-flipping! Or Kindling. Just kindle the joy of reading, and I'm good.